The New Girl
by ginger92
Summary: At the start of sixth year, a new student comes to Hogwarts. But there is something very familiar about her... My first fanfic so please take it easy on me. Eventual femslash
1. The New Girl

**A/N: Hey there everybody! Hope you like this story. It's my first fanfic, so please no flaming. I would, however, love to get some constructive criticism as long as it can actually be useful to me. Anyway, enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any money off of this story.**

Chapter 1: The New Girl

This was a rather unusual event, even for Hogwarts. Unlike with Muggle schools, Hogwarts didn't really get transfer students all that often. In fact, Harry couldn't remember there ever being a transfer student in his entire time at Hogwarts. So Harry was rather perplexed by the witch walking in with the first years, waiting to be sorted.

She looked rather slim, like she hadn't been getting enough to eat lately, and she also had on a beret with most of her hair tucked up into it. Only a few strands of black hair peeked out the back of her hat, which was pulled down and covered her eyes. The strangest thing about her though, was that she looked old enough to be in Harry's year, so he had no idea what she was doing being sorted now.

Harry saw many of the other students had noticed this girl as well and whispered conversations had started up across the Great Hall almost as soon as she had entered. Harry looked at Hermione, hoping she would have some idea what was going on, but she looked just as curious as Harry.

As the sorting process began, Harry noticed that everyone seemed to be paying more attention to the girl than the other students being sorted. No one was really paying attention to McGonagall as she called off the names, until the girl started to move towards the stool. Then everyone was frantically whispering to their friends, trying to find out if anyone had heard her name.

Harry instantly turned to Hermione and she sighed, probably already guessing his question.

"Her name is Jessica Parkins."

Harry gave her a quick smile in thanks and turned back to the sorting. The girl looked hesitant about sitting on the stool to be sorted. For some reason she looked to Dumbledore, who gave her an encouraging nod, before she finally sat down.

Even stranger, the Sorting Hat seemed to be confused by this girl as well. Harry had seen the Sorting Hat struggle to decide where to place a student before, but this seemed more like it didn't even understand why she was being sorted. Then, it looked like something clicked and everything suddenly became clear to the Hat, and it shouted out its decision.

"Gryffindor!"

The usual respectful clapping broke out across the Great Hall, loudest at the Gryffindor table, and all eyes followed the girl as she made her way over. She looked for an empty spot amongst the older students and seemed to reluctantly decide on the spot across from Harry and Ron and next to Hermione.

Everyone near them at the table was staring at the girl and looked like they were dying to ask her all kinds of questions, but the girl just stared down at the table and refused to look up at anyone.

Unnoticed to Harry, all the new students had finished being sorted and Dumbledore was standing up to make his speech. Harry finally turned back to the front of the Hall as he heard Dumbledore start.

"Welcome to all of our new students! I hope that your time here at Hogwarts is nothing but wonderful. To our returning students, I would like to welcome you all to another splendid year. Now, I know that dark times may be approaching outside these walls, but I do so hope that while you are here you can forget about that and focus instead on your studies and enjoying your youthful days. On a lighter note, some of you may have noticed a slightly older student being sorted with the first years. She has just moved to England from Australia and will be in sixth year classes. I know that it is unusual to receive transfer students, so I ask that you please be respectful to her and make her feel welcome. Now, let the feast begin!"

As the plates and cups began to magically fill up, so too did the Hall begin to fill with conversation. Everyone nearby at the Gryffindor table seemed unsure about what to say to Jessica at first and for a while everyone ate in silence, but Hermione chose to break the ice.

"Jessica, right?"

The girl looked up enough for Harry to see a shy smile on her face. She had a round face with fair, almost pale, skin. But it was still fairly covered by her pulled down beret so he couldn't really see what color her eyes were.

"I prefer Jessi, actually," she said in a quiet tone that was almost impossible to hear over the noise in the Hall.

"Hello Jessi. My name's Hermione Granger. Welcome to Hogwarts," Hermione greeted warmly as she put out her hand for Jessi to shake. Jessi took the hand reluctantly, but shook firmly once she had a hold. The others then joined in with the greetings.

"Hi. Ron Weasley."

"Hi there. I'm Harry Potter," Harry said. As he shook her hand, he searched her face for any sign of recognition, but her eyes were still mostly hidden beneath her hat.

Other students around them also introduced themselves. Harry noticed that Jessi didn't really seem to be trying to memorize the names. In fact, it seemed like she recognized everyone before they introduced themselves. But maybe he was imagining things.

After all the introductions everyone went back to eating some more before Hermione tried to start up a conversation with Jessi.

"So why did your family move here from Australia?"

"Well, we technically moved back to England."

"Oh, so you lived here before?"

"Yeah. We lived here back when I was little but moved to Australia when my dad got a job out there." To Harry, her answer seemed reflexive and void of emotion, almost fake. But he just figured that she had figured on having to answer these types of questions so she had already thought about what she was going to say.

Once more, an awkward silence hung over the group as they ate a little more.

"So why did you move back from Australia if your father had a good job?" Harry asked, trying to keep the conversation going so they could learn a little bit more about this new girl.

"If you asked my parents, they would say that they missed their family and had been away from England long enough. But to be honest, they really wanted to be here to help fight against Vol-" Jessi stopped as she saw everyone's surprised expression. "I mean, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." She quickly stared back down to her plate, looking embarrassed by what she almost said.

"You almost said his name!" Ron blurted out in his usual, unthinking fashion, earning him a glare from Hermione.

"Yeah, well, um… h-he wasn't really a direct threat in Australia, s-so there were more people who weren't really afraid of saying his name. I-I mean, we, uh, we still knew that things could get bad if he started rising up here… but there weren't any active Death Eaters in Australia yet so we weren't in any immediate danger," Jessi explained, seeming a little surprised and unprepared for Ron's question.

"Personally, I don't understand why everyone here has such trouble just saying the name. I mean, that's all it is – a name!" Harry exclaimed, everyone else giving him their usual, uncertain looks.

"The fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing itself," Jessi said, smiling only slightly.

"Exactly."

"Easy for you to say, being the all-powerful Boy-Who-Lived," Ron muttered.

Harry quickly looked to Jessi, expecting to see a surprised look on her face after Ron's comment. Instead she just continued to stare at her plate and push her food around with her fork.

"You're not surprised that I'm the Boy-Who-Lived?" Harry questioned her.

"I kind of figured it out when you told me your name."

"Then how come you didn't immediately ask for my autograph or question me about being the savior of the wizarding world?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Why would I? Sure you're famous because you survived the Killing Curse, which is a big deal, but you yourself didn't really have anything to do with that. You were just a baby lying in crib."

As Jessi gave her answer everyone just stared at her with open mouths, looking at her like she had just said something as crazy as 'Voldemort is really a nice guy.' Then Harry broke out into hysterical laughter and everyone looked at him like he was crazier than her.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked, an incredibly concerned expression on his face.

"It's… It's just … she…" Harry tried to say between gasps for air. He composed himself before continuing. "It's just that she explained exactly how I've felt since I discovered why I'm famous. I've never felt like I should be famous for something my mum did. I've just never been able to put it into words. It's rather relieving and exciting to find someone who share's my point of view."

"It's my pleasure," Jessi said, a smile tugging at the edges of her lips.

The atmosphere became more comfortable at the table as everyone went back to eating and catching up with friends. Some people tried asking Jessi more about herself, but she would just give short replies that revealed nothing about herself and go back to picking at her food.

Before they knew it, the feast was finished and everyone started walking towards the dormitories. Hermione walked next to Jessi, taking on the unofficial role of guide, explaining some things about Hogwarts. Harry and Ron just followed behind them.

"So Jessi, you'll probably have a lot of the same classes as Harry, Ron, and I, so if you ever have any questions feel free to ask us."

"You're all sixth years?" Jessi asked. She seemed very confused and for some reason, glanced at Ron for a short moment before turning back to Hermione.

"Yes. What so surprising about that?" Hermione said, a little confused by her reaction.

"Just surprised I sat next to a bunch of people from my year, I guess," Jessi muttered. She appeared to become lost in thought and didn't bother to really pay attention to anything else Hermione said until they got to the common room.

As they entered the common room, Ginny saw them and came rushing to them.

"Harry! Hermione! It's good to see you again! Sorry I didn't sit with you at the feast, but I had some other friends I needed to catch up with first," Ginny said, pulling both of them into a hug. When she pulled away she noticed Jessi for the first time. "Oh. Hello there! I'm Ginny Weasley. Ron's younger sister. You must be the new girl."

"H-h-hi. I-I'm J-j-jessi," she barely managed to squeak out. To Harry, she looked like she had seen a ghost, or rather a ghost from her past. He also noticed that she was looking up enough for him to see her eyes for the first time. They were a warm hazel that almost seemed familiar and he was sure they would normally have looked rather friendly, but for now they were filled with shock and terror and pain.

"I-if you all excuse me, I'm rather worn out from all the excitement and I think I'll just turn in early. Good night," Jessi said quickly and rushed towards the girls' dormitories without another word.

Everyone was utterly confused, Ginny most of all.

"Was it something I said?"

No one really knew the answer to that question, so they all decided to drop the topic for now and instead chose to ask each other how their summer was. But for the rest of the evening, Harry kept thinking of Jessi's eyes and tried to figure out where he had seen them before.


	2. Ginny's Thoughts

**A/N: Hey there everybody! First, I want to thank anyone who read the first chapter, but I would love it if some of you could review so that I can get some idea of how I'm doing. My chapters a little short for now, but I'm hoping that they'll get longer as I get more into the plot.**

**This chapter is basically the same events from the last chapter, only from Ginny's point of view. I've also decided that this story is eventually going to become a Ginny/OC story, and since the only OC that I've introduced so far is Jessi, you can guess that there is eventually going to be some femslash stuff. If you don't like that kind of thing then I suggest you stop reading this story.**

Chapter 2: Ginny's Thoughts

The Welcoming Feast was always Ginny's favorite feast of the year. She loved being reacquainted with old friends and sharing stories of their summer adventures. She had thought about sitting with Ron, Hermione, and Harry this year. She had gotten much closer to all of them over the events of last year and felt like she would have been welcome to sit with them. Instead, she chose to catch up with some of her other friends, especially those few who she hadn't talked to much last year because they hadn't been in Dumbledore's Army.

Ginny laughed to herself at that thought. There was a time when she would have done anything to sit with Harry Potter and be accepted into his group of friends. But she had long ago stopped thinking of him as 'Harry, the hero', and now simply thought of him as 'Harry, the kind, normal young man.' She may no longer have a silly, little girl's crush on him, but she did have to admit to herself that he was a rather amazing boy, and would be even if he weren't famous.

Ginny was pulled from her thoughts by the entrance of the first years. She always loved to watch the nervous, little firsties as they were sorted. At least, they were usually all little. This year there was a much older girl being led in with the firsties.

Ginny's first thought upon seeing this girl wasn't about how she looked too old for sorting, but rather how she looked as underfed as Harry did after a summer with the Dursleys. Ginny also noticed that, while most first time students would stare at the enchanted ceiling or large crowd of students when they first entered the Great Hall, this girl was keeping her eyes on the ground and her face hidden from view.

Ginny heard several conversations start around her as students tried to figure out who this girl was, why she was with the first years, and why she was being sorted at her age. Ginny didn't bother to join any of these conversations, instead staying focused on the girl. She couldn't quite place it, but there was something familiar about this girl. Not the kind of vague recognition you get from passing a stranger that you've seen before, but the recognition you get from seeing an old friend. The way this girl walked, how she held herself, even how she was acting shy all seemed familiar to Ginny. The strangest thing was that Ginny got the feeling that these actions were familiar, but that the girl hadn't been the one she had seen doing them.

As the sorting process began, Ginny was one of the few students to think ahead enough to listen to Professor McGonagall as she announced the names. When the name Jessica Parkins was called and the girl started moving towards the stool, Ginny was the one who had to tell the girl's name to those around her who hadn't been listening.

Ginny was confused by Jessica's reluctance to sit on the stool and put on the Sorting Hat. She was far from the first student to be sorted so she should have some idea of what was going to happen. Ginny didn't fail to notice that Jessica looked towards the Professor's table, but didn't see who she was looking at before Jessica put the Hat on and sat on the stool. Ginny was even more confused by the Hat's reaction to Jessica. Usually, when the Hat struggled to sort a student it was because the Hat was trying to decide between two houses. This time, however, it looked liked the Hat didn't even know where to start. Ginny saw Jessica mouthing something she was saying to the Hat, and then a look of understanding came across the Hat's, well, 'face,' for lack of a better term, and it shouted out its final decision.

"Gryffindor!"

As cheering broke out at the Gryffindor table, Ginny was trying to get a good look at Jessica's face as she passed, but she passed behind Ginny, who didn't want to be too obvious by turning around to stare at this new girl.

Ginny saw Jessica chose a seat next to Hermione and cheered to herself, knowing that Hermione would have no problem with trying to get some information out of Jessica and would share all of it with Ginny later.

Ginny tried her best to not think about Jessica for the rest of the feast, and instead tried to focus on talking with her friends like they were before the interruption. But whenever she saw someone looking down the table, obviously trying to see the mysterious new student, Ginny's thoughts would return to the girl and the odd feeling that she was familiar somehow.

The feast eventually ended and the students all started heading to the common rooms. Ginny saw that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jessica were sticking to the back of the group and moving at a much slower pace. Ginny wanted to join them but got swept away in the crowd and ended up at the common room well before them.

As soon as she saw them come in, she ran over to them to say hello, and also so she could introduce herself to Jessica.

"Harry! Hermione! It's good to see you again! Sorry I didn't sit with you at the feast, but I had some other friends I needed to catch up with first," she said as she pulled those two into a group hug. Her heart actually sped up a little when she came into contact with Harry. When she ended the hug, she acted surprised to see Jessica standing there. "Oh. Hello there! I'm Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister. You must be the new girl."

As soon as she said her name, Jessica's head snapped up enough for Ginny to clearly see it for the first time. She had a soft, round face that managed to look gentle without seeming fragile. Her eyes were a were a warm hazel that Ginny saw nothing but kindness in. She was not, however, expecting that face to have a look of overpowering fear and grief on it.

"H-h-hi. I-I'm J-j-jessi," the girl struggled to say. "I-if you all excuse me, I'm rather worn out from all the excitement and I think I'll just turn in early. Good night." The last part came out in one breath and Ginny had a little trouble catching it all. 'Jessi' practically ran to the entrance to the girls' dormitories and started up the steps, three at a time.

"Was it something I said?" Ginny asked, completely bewildered by Jessi's reaction. No one was able to answer her question, not that she was really expecting an answer.

The four friends settle down on some couches near a fireplace and talked about their summers for a little while. Ginny noticed that Harry seemed to be lost in thought about something, but that was nothing new for him so she just ignored it. It wasn't too long before Ron and Harry headed off to bed, leaving Ginny and Hermione alone. Ginny had waited until then for some reason to ask Hermione what she had learned about Jessi. It didn't take Hermione long to pass on what little she knew.

"That's all you know? I would've expected you to barrage her with questions until you knew everything from her favorite flavor of ice cream to what brand of tooth paste she uses," Ginny said, teasing her friend about her need to know everything she possibly could.

"I wanted to ask her questions the entire feast, but the answers she did give revealed so little about her. Besides, she seemed intent on _acting_ shy so I eventually left her alone."

"You think she's acting?"

"Yes. One, she seems to be forcing herself to avoid eye contact instead of being too shy to do it. Two, it's not that she does not want to answer questions, it's that she refuses to give any answers that will give anything away. And three, she was sorted into Gryffindor. We may have people who are easily embarrassed or socially awkward, but never anyone who is too shy to talk to their own housemates."

"Maybe she has some big secret she's trying to hide."

"That could very well be, but we have no way of knowing until we find out more about her."

Ginny thought about telling Hermione how familiar Jessi looked and felt to her, but decided against it until she figured out who Jessi reminded her of.

Ginny and Hermione talked about why Jessi might be acting shy for a little longer but soon decided to go get a good night's rest before the first day of classes. As the two girls started climbing the stairs of the girls' dormitories, a thought occurred to Ginny.

"Hermione, did you tell Jessi where the girls' dormitories were?"

"No. She ran away before I got to explain anything about the common room or the dorms."

"Then how did she know where to go when she ran off to bed?" After asking this Ginny saw something she had never seen, and probably never would see again - a confused and speechless Hermione. When she failed to come up with any kind of answer, the two girls continued on to their beds so they could think about that question while they slept. Ginny fell asleep to thoughts of Jessi and her 'familiar' looks and movement. Had she not been on the edge of slumber, Ginny would have been surprised to find that she was attracted by those things.


	3. Holes in Her Story

**A/N: So for these first couple of chapters I'm going to be switching between Harry and Ginny point of view, mostly because I want to get Harry's take on Jessi. It will eventually become only Ginny's point of view but not until the big secret is revealed. Hope I did good on this chapter. Hagrid's dialogue was especially hard to get right. Please review and tell me how you think I did.**

**Special thanks go out to Shadow for giving me an _amazing_ first review.**

Over the next couple of weeks, it became obvious that Jessi had joined Harry's group of friends. She sat next to them in all of their classes. She joined them in the common room whenever they were working on homework or studying. She sat with them at all the meals. She even hung out with them during their free time. The odd thing was that none of them minded.

Usually they were wary of anyone new trying to get close to them, since those people generally just wanted to get close to the Boy Who Lived or were trying to find out what trouble they were getting into now. But Jessi just seemed to genuinely want to be friends with them and she seemed to fit right in with their group.

Hermione still seemed suspicious of the girl but was more than glad to have another girl with them when they were studying. She was also relieved to find out that Jessi didn't beg Hermione to let her copy her assignments, instead only asking for help whenever she had a problem that she honestly couldn't solve herself. Jessi was even able to help the boys on occasion when Hermione was too busy.

Ron seemed reluctant at first to let Jessi hang out with them, but his mind quickly changed when he found out that she was a Chudley Cannons fan. Fortunately for the rest of the group, they were saved from hearing Ron go on for endless hours about the team by the fact that Jessi didn't know too much about the recent teams because it was hard for her to keep up to date on them from Australia.

'Or at least, so she says,' thought Harry. To him, it seemed like Jessi only claimed to be a Cannons fan to win Ron over. She didn't know anymore about the team than Harry did from listening to Ron's ramblings. That was fine with him though. He had no problem with the girl and it shut Ron up.

Harry enjoyed Jessi's company because it was nice to have someone else to talk to during Ron and Hermione's constant, heated arguments, rather than being stuck in the middle of them. They didn't say much during these talks and Harry didn't learn much about Jessi from what she did say, but it was still nice to have something else to do other than watch his two best friends ignore their feelings for each other. Harry was starting to worry that it was going them longer to get together than he originally thought. So much for winning the pool he and the other Weaselys had going on.

Ron and Hermione had been having another one of their arguments for the past five minutes and there was no end in sight, so Harry decided to start up another conversation with Jessi. Problem was he was starting to run out of ideas for small talk with the girl. He looked at her and noticed she was wearing a tight-knit cap pulled down as far as it would go, so he decided to ask something that had been bugging him lately.

"What's with all the hats?"

"Excuse me?" Jessi asked, looking startled by the sudden question.

"You're the only person I know who wears a hat every day, all the time. Why is that?" Harry may not pay much, or any, attention to fashion and what the girls would wear, but even he wasn't so blind as to miss something like Jessi and her hats.

"Um, it's a fashion choice, I guess."

Harry was getting frustrated by all the vague, guarded answers her got from the girl and finally decided to confront her about it.

"Why do you do that? I know you're new here and you're still a little shy but you don't need to push people away. I would think by now that you could open up to us at least a little."

"I just… I'm not a very social person, okay?"

"Come on, just start with something little and not _too_ personal. Like, why do you really wear all those hats? And 'it's a fashion choice' is not a real enough reason."

"I… well… it's like you said. I'm a shy person. I find it easier to hide under my hats than face people."

"There, was that so hard?"

"Bloody hell, you got a real answer out of her," Ron said, his voice filled with disbelief. Neither Harry nor Jessi had noticed that Ron and Hermione had finished their argument and had been listening in on their conversation. At this realization, Jessi blushed deeply and seemed to sink down into her seat.

"Ronald! She can hear you! Why do you always have to be so rude?" Hermione practically shouted. It looked like they might be starting another argument, giving Harry another chance to get Jessi to open up. But they were interrupted when Ginny came over.

"H-hi guys. Mind if I join you?" Ginny asked, looking hesitantly at Jessi. As they all expected, Jessi immediately got up and left, mumbling something about an assignment she forgot about.

"What does she have against me?" Ginny fell back into Jessi's vacated spot and gave a great sigh.

Whenever Ginny would show up, Jessi would give a poor excuse and run away before anyone had a chance to say anything. No one knew why, but one could ask her either because anytime anyone so much as mentioned Ginny's name around Jessi, she would become lost in her own thoughts and wouldn't notice anything else for awhile. She had once become so distracted that Snape had yelled at her for a good five minutes before she noticed what was going on.

The worst part of it all was watching how it affected Ginny. She only wanted to get to know the shy, new girl and was deeply hurt by Jessi's refusal to so much as acknowledge her presence.

Seeing Ginny so upset made Harry want to do anything he could to cheer her up. He reached over and grabbed her hand to get her attention. He thought he saw her blush at this, but it could have been the firelight playing tricks on him.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I don't think she has anything against you. She doesn't act like she's mad at you."

"But then why would she run away at the very sight of me?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but… to me, it seems like you remind her of someone she lost."

"…What makes you say that?"

"I recognize the look of pain in her eyes every time she looks at you." Harry had seen that look far too many times in the mirror not to recognize it. Especially this summer, after what happened to Sirius.

Ginny's only reply was a soft "oh," and then she seemed to become lost in thought. After a minute or two, she glanced down at her hand and this time there was no mistaking the deep blush on her cheeks.

Harry looked down and noticed that he was still holding her hand and quickly pulled it away and muttered an apology, feeling a blush of his own creeping onto his face. He turned to Ron and Hermione, having again forgotten they were still there and hoping that neither of them had been watching the exchange. They both looked to be lost in their essays, but Harry noticed that Hermione was trying to force down a smile.

Harry decided that he should get back to his own essay, but his brain had other ideas. Talking to Ginny about what he saw in Jessi's eyes only reminded him of the nagging feeling that those warm hazel eyes were familiar to him somehow. He first thought that maybe she had a relatives that he knew that could have the same eyes, but he couldn't remember anyone that had ever mentioned having relatives in Australia. He then thought that maybe he had seen a picture of her or a relative somewhere, but to be honest, he had no idea where he should start looking.

His final idea was that he had met her before somewhere. This idea seemed completely impossible to him since he had never been to Australia, but he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he had seen those eyes before. When he thought about it some more, he not only felt like he knew those eyes but that they, or rather who they belonged to, were important to him.

* * *

The next Saturday, the group of friends finally had enough free time to visit Hagrid for the first time that year. They brought Jessi along so their new friend could meet the friendly half-giant.

Hagrid greeted them all with bone crushing hugs. He had an especially suffocating hug for Jessi when the two were introduced. The first part of the visit was rather pleasant. Hagrid asked them all about their summers while offering them barely edible treats and buckets of scalding hot… ooze that he claimed was tea. The visit didn't turn unpleasant until he started asking Jessi about herself.

"So Jessi, 'ow you likin' Hogwarts so far?"

"It's pretty great, I suppose."

"Where'd yeh parents go to school at?"

"Oh, uh, Hogwarts as well."

"Really? What're their names? I prob'ly knew 'em."

"I… uh, I really doubt you knew them. They didn't get out of the castle much."

"Oh, nonsense. I've known nearly ev'ry student tha' come through 'ere since I started workin'. Now come, who were they?"

"Um, that is… uh, they… they were both, uh, both in Slytherin. Yeah, S-Slytherin. So I really doubt you knew them"

The cozy little hut became eerily silent at this statement. After a few minutes, Ron was the first to break the silence.

"But then how come you're in Gryffindor?"

"Honestly, Ronald! Just because her parents were Slytherins doesn't mean she _has_ to be one too," Hermione scolded Ron.

"I know that! I was just surprised that anyone from a Slytherin family could make it to _Gryffindor_ of all the houses."

"Sirius was in Gryffindor and he came from a family of Slytherins," Hermione pointed out. She immediately realized her mistake in mentioning Sirius around Harry. The hut was filled with another awkward silence before Hagrid managed to get the conversation back on track.

"So Jessi, 'owed yer parents take the news tha' yeh were sorted in ta Gryffindor?"

"N-not that bad."

"Really?"

"Yeah. They were, um, p-pretty moderate for Slytherins. And they, uh, they changed a lot after school, once they, you know, got out and… and saw the real world."

They seemed to run out of conversation ideas after that and they sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"Well, would yeh look at the time. Yeh lot better be 'eading up to the castle. Come visit me again soon, why don' yeh?" Hagrid said, sounding extremely uncomfortable. They said their goodbyes and headed on their way.

* * *

Later that night, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were all gathered in the common room. Since Ginny was with them, Jessi was nowhere to be seen. They had just filled Ginny in on what they had learned at the hut.

"I don't trust her," Ron stated simply.

"Oh please Ron. Just because her parents were Slytherins doesn't mean that she's any less trustworthy. If anything, she's more trustworthy because she was able to break the tradition and make it into Gryffindor," Ginny argued, although it was pointless to try and change Ron's mind. He would distrust his own mother if she had any ties to Slytherin.

"How would you know if she's trustworthy? She hasn't said so much as a word to you since the first day."

"Yes, well, that may be, but… I still don't think she would have made it into this house if she wasn't trustworthy."

"She has a point, Ron," Hermione joined in. Any sensible man would have known to give up rather than try to argue against both of these women. But Ron was determined to stand by his decision.

"Maybe she tricked the Sorting Hat into sorting her here so she could spy on us or something."

"Ron, the Hat can read your mind. How are you supposed to trick it?" Ginny pointed out.

"I-I don't know. But that doesn't mean it can't be done!"

"Ron, there is absolutely no way to trick the Sorting Hat," Hermione said in her tone that left no room for argument. "Personally, I trust her and believe that her parents changed, too."

"No Slytherin could ever change!"

"Ron, do you remember that at the welcoming feast she said that her parents came back to fight against You-Know-Who?"

"Yes, well, maybe she was lying. Aren't you the one who said that you thought she was always faking?"

"I said that I thought that she was only pretending to be shy. I didn't say that she was faking anything else. I am fairly certain that everything she tells us is the truth. That doesn't mean that I trust her completely, but she hasn't given me any reason to think otherwise."

"Alright, alright. I give up. You win," Ron admitted rather reluctantly.

Harry had been silent for this entire conversation, happy to just sit back and watch his best mate fight a losing battle. But Hermione's comment about Jessi's parents coming back to fight got him thinking about how parts of Jessi's story didn't line up. Her parents being Slytherins but fighting Voldemort. Her being a Cannons fan but not knowing much of anything about them. The fact that she only recently moved back to England but already seemed to recognize everyone before they introduced themselves. That last statement also held true for Jessi's reaction to Ginny.

Harry hadn't been completely honest with Ginny before. There was a difference between the look of pain one got when being reminded of someone they lost (like seeing someone who looks like them) and actually seeing that person (like in photos or memories). Jessi didn't look at Ginny like she reminded her of someone she lost. Jessi looked at Ginny like Ginny _was_ the someone special she lost.


	4. Breaking Through

**A/N: Hey everybody. I'm real sorry I didn't update sooner. Got real busy with the holidays and all. Anyway, heres the next chapter. I'm probably going to reveal Jessi's big secret next chapter because I'm out of ideas for things to happen before the big reveal. Anyone who wants to can guess what her big secret is in a review or PM and maybe win a prize! Okay, not a real prize, but I will mention anyone who can correctly guess it in the next author's note. So please review and leave guesses and maybe some constructive criticism, too. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!**

Ginny was absolutely miserable. No matter what she tried, nothing seemed to cheer her up. Of course, it was hard for her to think of something to make her feel better when she didn't even understand why she was being affected so thoroughly.

Her problem was Jessi. Ginny couldn't explain why, but Jessi's refusal to even look at her hurt more than any rejection before. Ginny wasn't the type of person that felt that she had to make everyone like her; in fact she was glad that there were people that despised her because that meant that she had stood up against someone for something she believed in. But Jessi wasn't like that. Ginny had done nothing to her and still she refused to acknowledge Ginny's existence.

Harry had said that maybe she reminded Jessi of someone she lost and at first that idea seemed to fit. But when Ginny thought about it, that reason wouldn't be strong enough to explain Jessi's reaction. If Ginny only reminded Jessi of someone she lost, then by now Jessi would have dealt with it enough to at least be in the same room as Ginny.

So in other words, Ginny was no closer to figuring out Jessi's problem with her than when she started. She decided that the only way she would be able to find the real answers would be to ask Jessi. And the only way to do that would be to corner Jessi. Ginny didn't like the idea of bullying Jessi into giving her answers but felt like she had to solve this puzzle, no matter what.

Ginny's chance came a few days later after lunch when she noticed Jessi ducking into an abandoned classroom (probably to avoid passing Ginny). Ginny waited by the door for a few minutes until Jessi opened it to presumably check if Ginny was gone yet. As soon as the door opened Ginny stood in front of it and stuck out her foot to keep Jessi from closing the door on her.

"Why do you keep avoiding me Jessi?"

"Oh, uh, hi G-Ginny! I'd, uh, I'd love to talk but I've got to get to class. So if you could, uh, just let me through-"

"You don't have a class next. You have a free period with Harry and Ron. They told me you usually study with them in the common room right now."

"Oh, right. They told you that, huh? W-well…"

"Jessi, please." Ginny's voice became soft and almost pleading at this point. "I just want to know what I did to make you hate me so much."

"Ginny! I could never hate you! No matter what you did."

"Then why won't you talk to me? Harry, Ron, and Hermione all talk about what a good friend you are. I just want to be your friend too."

"… It's complicated Ginny. I don't think I can tell you all of it just yet. But believe me when I say that it has absolutely nothing to do with you."

"So what? It's not me, it's you? Isn't that a cliché usually reserved for breakups?"

Jessi looked rather shocked by that last statement, but she quickly covered it up. "It's not that. Not exactly, at least."

"Then what is it? What could be so bad that you won't even look at me?"

"I can't tell you Ginny. Not 'I don't want to tell you,' because I do. I'm not allowed to tell you. Not yet."

"Well whatever it is, you obviously have some kind of problem with me. I just wish you would give me a chance to prove you wrong."

Jessi thought about this for a moment before she agreed, though rather reluctantly it appeared. "You're right Ginny. I never gave you a chance and that was unfair of me. I have my reasons for being afraid to talk to you but that doesn't give me the right to hurt you by ignoring you entirely. I hope you'll forgive me."

Ginny sighed and her lips slowly formed into a smile before she answered. "Yeah, I'll forgive you. But only if you'll talk to me some now and give me a chance to get to know you."

"I'd like that," Jessi said with a small smile of her own. "Um, I know that I have a free period right now, but don't you have a class that you should be getting to?"

"Shit! How am I supposed to explain being late to McGonagall?"

"Give me your shoe."

"What? How is giving you my shoe going to stop McGonagall from being angry with me?"

"Tell her Peeves stole your shoe. You chased him and tried to get it back but he got away. By that time he'd led you to the opposite side of the castle from her classroom," Jessi said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's bloody brilliant! You might be better than Fred and George at making up excuses."

"That's not too hard. Your brothers always tried to make up elaborate excuses. It's better to make up simple, realistic ones."

"How do you know about my brothers? Or even that they are my brothers?"

"Uh, Ron and some of the other kids will talk about them occasionally."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense." Ginny took off her shoe and handed it over to Jessi.

"If you want to make it really believable then you'll need to run as fast as you can to class so that you're out of breath when you get there," Jessi added, further impressing Ginny with her ability to cover up ever possible flaw in the lie.

The two girls came fully out into the hallway and Ginny was turning to say goodbye to Jessi when she saw her least favorite person in the entire school coming their way: Draco Malfoy. In fact, there was a good chance that he was the least favorite person of almost everyone at Hogwarts. It was even rumored that a large number of Slytherins couldn't stand him that much.

Draco walked up to them with his usual smug look on his face, the ever-present Crabbe and Goyle on each side of him. Ginny knew she was going to have to endure another verbal assault from the arrogant boy, but she was used to ignoring his insults so she was ready.

"Well if it isn't the littlest Weasel. What are you doing with the new girl? Thought I heard that she hated you. Heard that she was too repulsed by you to even be in the same room as you. Not that I can blame her. She isn't the only one to be disgusted by filthy little blood traitors."

Ginny wasn't sure what happened next. One second she was looking at Malfoy, getting ready to insult him right back. But then, in the blink of and eye, Jessi had him pinned against the wall with her wand pointed at his face. Jessi's eyes were filled with more anger than Jessi had seen before in anyone.

"Listen close, you stupid little prick," Jessi said in such a quiet hiss that it almost sounded more like Parseltongue than English. "From now on, if you so much as say something to Ginny in an unpleasant tone, then I will personally crush any hopes you have of ever creating a Malfoy heir." As Jessi was talking, she slowly lowered her wand until it was pointing at a part of Malfoy that most boys are usually very protective over.

Malfoy's face became pale, well paler than normal, as he realized what Jessi was implying. Jessi let him go and he immediately bolted down the hallway, leaving a confused Crabbe and Goyle standing around for a moment before they took off after the so-called 'brains' of their operation.

Ginny stared at Jessi in complete awe. She couldn't understand how the shy girl that barely talked could suddenly threaten someone so forcefully. She also couldn't believe that Jessi had been defending Ginny when she threatened Malfoy, despite the fact that she had been completely avoiding Ginny up until now.

"Jessi! Where the hell did that come from?"

"He insulted you. I was simply standing up for my gir-… I mean, friend."

"And I appreciate that, but don't you think you went a little overboard? Sure he called me some rude names but you practically threatened to castrate him!"

Jessi blushed as she seemed to realize what she had just done. "Yeah, I did kind of over do it, didn't I? Well, it's too late to do anything about it now. I'll meet you in the common room after you're class so I can give you your shoe back."

"Merlin, I almost forgot about class! If I don't hurry then even your shoe excuse won't be enough to explain my tardiness. See you in a bit Jessi," Ginny called out as she started sprinting down the hallways, both so she could make it before too long and so she would be out of breath, like Jessi suggested. Despite being late for the first time ever, Ginny couldn't help smiling all the way to class as she thought about how Jessi had said she was defending a friend.

* * *

Ginny had been amazed when McGonagall had bought her excuse. She had almost blown her story because she was so excited, but managed to keep her enthusiasm contained for the sake of the lie. As soon as class was over, Ginny rushed to get back to the common room so she could thank Jessi for the brilliant story and so she could get her shoe back. Running around the castle in only one shoe was incredibly awkward.

When Ginny got to the common room, she ran straight to Jessi and just about tackled the girl with a sudden hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you! McGonagall bought your story! You saved from getting into _sooo_ much trouble!"

"Um, n-no… no problem Ginny."

Ginny heard how uncomfortable Jessi sounded and realized it was probably a mistake to hug Jessi so fiercely when she only got the shy girl to agree to talk to her earlier that day. Ginny pulled back but she kept smiling at Jessi gratefully.

"Hold on a minute, since when are you two talking? I thought Jessi hated you, Gin" Ron's question made Ginny realize how surprising the sight of Ginny hugging Jessi must have been for Harry, Hermione and Ron. Ginny wasn't sure how to answer his question, since she wasn't sure how much Jessi wanted to be revealed, but Jessi answered him before Ginny had a chance to.

"I never hated Ginny, Ron. I had my reasons for not wanting to talk to her but hate was never one of them."

"Alright, but if you didn't want to talk to Ginny, then why are you now?"

"I realized that it wasn't right of me to hurt Ginny because of my own insecurities. So we're talking."

"Well, I'm just glad that we can all be friends now without all the awkwardness," Harry added in. Ginny thought that Harry's eyes were practically shining with happiness at the fact that Ginny and Jessi were finally getting along. Ginny wasn't surprised that the look of happiness on Harry's face was giving her butterflies in her stomach. What did surprise her was that she was getting the same feeling from the look of happiness on Jessi's face.

Ginny was snapped out of her thoughts when Ron asked her why she only had one shoe on. She smiled proudly as she told her three other friends about the amazing excuse that Jessi had come up with to get her out of trouble for being late. They were all in awe of Jessi after Ginny had told them this. Even Hermione was impressed by her ability to come up with such a convincing story on such short notice, though she wasn't happy that Ginny had lied to one of her teachers. Jessi was of course embarrassed by all the attention and praise.

As the four friends spent the rest afternoon together doing homework and chatting, Ginny felt like she and Jessi had been friends forever. Jessi seemed to understand Ginny's sense of humor more than anyone else and at one point joined her in an attempt to see how red they could make Ron turn out of embarrassment. Jessi shared Ginny's fashion sense, with the exception of the hats. Jessi even excelled in the same subjects as Ginny, though Jessi did slightly better.

The more they talked, they more Ginny felt that she and Jessi would be friends for life. Ginny thought that Jessi must feel the same way because she was starting to loosen up and share more.

Ginny wasn't sure if this was such a good thing though. As Jessi loosened up more and more, Ginny started thinking about her in ways that she usually only thought about boys. Ginny found that she adored Jessi's laugh and would do anything to hear it again. She thought that Jessi had and unbelievably cute nose and wanted to plant a kiss right on the tip. She thought that Jessi's lips looked incredibly soft and delicious and she was sorely tempted to find out how they tasted. As Ginny started thinking about Jessi in more of a romantic way, she realized that she was thinking about Harry in less of one.

Despite Ginny's confusion over her changing feelings, she enjoyed the afternoon spent with her friends and learned a lot about the mysterious new girl. By the time dinner came, Ginny thought that she had Jessi pretty well figured out. She thought that nothing Jessi did could surprise her. She couldn't have been any more wrong.


End file.
